Assets worth more than £1 million have been taken away from criminals across the Thames Valley so far this financial year.

Thames Valley Police has already smashed its cash detention target for 2012/13 with more than three months remaining until the financial year ends in April.

The force set a target of achieving 134 confiscation orders this year, but has already made 157 orders under the Proceeds of Crime Acts legislation which confiscate the assets of known criminals.

Financial investigators from the Force's Economic Crime Unit are now conducting investigation into where the cash confiscated came from and will be applying for forfeiture orders at local Magistrates Courts.

Detective Inspector Gavin Tyrrell from the Economic Crime Unit said: “The underlying principle of the Proceeds of Crime Act is to remove cash and other assets from criminals so they cannot profit from their crimes or reinvest in other criminal enterprises.

“The seizure of this huge amount of cash is a tremendous achievement for everyone involved throughout TVP and should send a clear warning to the criminals that harm our communities, that we will use every tactic available to bring you to justice and remove the profit from crime.”